Microscopic agglutination and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analyses of oral anaerobic spirochetes.

Microscopic agglutination (MA) analysis and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) were used to determine strain and species similarities and dissimilarities among three species of oral anaerobic spirochetes, Treponema denticola, Treponema pectinovorum, and Treponema vincentii. The MA analysis revealed a diversity of serologic reactivity or sharing of common antigens within each species. However, there was no cross-reactivity or sharing of common antigens among the three species. Distinct SDS-PAGE whole-cell electrophoretograms for each species were obtained. The banding patterns for 16 T. denticola strains revealed 30 distinct proteins, while the banding patterns for 5 strains of T. pectinovorum and 2 strains of T. vincentii revealed 26 and 35 distinct proteins, respectively. Analysis of the electrophoretograms showed that their respective banding patterns could be used to distinguish the three species from one another. In addition, strain differences within each species could be detected. There was a correlation between MA analysis and SDS-PAGE analysis. It is thus suggested that both MA and SDS-PAGE analysis be included in classification schemes for the identification of oral spirochetes.